"You'll have to earn your passage, my lad," said Mr. Armitage. "My boys are about to scrub down decks. You might give them a hand. How about coiling that rope away?"
The Scoutmaster pointed to a hawser-laid rope lying just abaft the mast.
Gregory went for'ard, lurching with the movement of the boat. Then he began coiling away, struggling with the stubborn rope until he literally tied it up in knots.
"Tough bit o' stuff, this," he remarked, regarding his efforts with evident mistrust.
"It is," agreed Mr. Armitage. "All right. You can steer, I suppose? Take on from Flemming. He'll give you the course."
Gregory made for the wheelhouse. The two Scoutmasters exchanged knowing glances. Test Number One had failed, as far as the fisherman's son was concerned. Every seafarer knows that a hawser-laid rope is coiled "with the sun". Gregory had reversed the process with the result that every coil had kinked badly.
Soon it became evident that the lad's helmsmanship was no better than his skill at curling down a rope. Judging by the zig-zag wake the wheel was giving him plenty of trouble, although after a bit, thanks to Flemming's assistance, Gregory made a better show than he had previously done.
Nevertheless, both Mr. Graham and Mr. Armitage were now agreed that the sea-sick youth, picked up from the dinghy, was certainly not connected with the sea. Who and what was he, then?